You are a busy store owner. Selling at trade shows, meeting clients, and forming relationships with suppliers are just some of the many activities you do. But your shop does not stop because you’re away from the office.

No matter where you may be, it is important to keep the business running smoothly and keep your customers happy. How can you do this?

1. Use a card reader

You can use a card reader integrated into your online store to accept credit cards when selling products at festivals, markets, or other events. This makes it much easier for customers to bring cash and doesn’t require you to give exact change.

Many payment gateways can integrate with card readers, or offer their services such as:

• WooCommerce payments. To accept credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets such as Apple Pay, use the WooCommerce Personal Payments card reader.

• Square. Pay directly from your smartphone or tablet.

• PayPal Zettle. Accept PayPal and Venmo (U.S. Only), card, contactless and digital wallets such as Apple Pay and more.

• Viva Wallet. Accept various European currencies in person.

• Stripe. You can customize your checkout experience by choosing from a variety of pre-certified card readers.

You can take payments in person depending on which gateway you choose and then ship the orders from your WooCommerce dashboard when you return to your business. This gives you more flexibility — if your inventory runs out or you create custom items, you can simply pre-sell your products and ship them later.

To collect payments anywhere in the U.S. you can use the WooCommerce Card Reader. Let’s suppose you have pop-up shops in your area or booths at local marketplaces. Customers can order their items online and then pick them up in person. This is a great solution for custom orders!

Perhaps you just need quick payments that don’t require inventory. The new Simple Payments feature makes it easy to place a quick order by entering a sum. This doesn’t update inventory but it is great for situations when inventory management is not critical or when speed is important.

2. Sync your inventory

It is important to ensure that inventory items are synchronized with online orders if you manage it. It’s not a good idea to sell products you don’t own!

You can sync inventory with many payment gateway extensions, such as Square. However, you can also use tools such as QuickBooks Commerce and LightspeedPOS to achieve the same goal.

WooCommerce understands that inventory management is essential for scaling up. We are actively developing a new feature that will allow you to create an order quickly. You’ll only need to select from your inventory via the WooCommerce Mobile App and then make payment with the M2 card reader. This will enable you to sync your inventory while still staying within WooCommerce.

3. Get the WooCommerce Mobile App

You may find it difficult to connect to the internet while you are traveling, going from one meeting to another, or at events. You can keep your shop open no matter where you’re at with the WooCommerce Mobile App.

• Manage your orders. Manage orders. View customer details. Verify shipping information from the Post Office.

• Receive notifications. You will instantly be notified if someone places an Order or leaves a Review.

• Monitor your store. Track your store to see which products perform best and how much revenue you have. You can also view other order data that is based on certain periods.

• Print shipping labels. You can print shipping labels. You can print, purchase, refund, and track shipping labels (and customs forms) directly from your mobile device.

4. Get the WordPress app

It’s not just about fulfilling orders. There are many other aspects to running an online store. You can manage your website on the move with the WordPress App and Webpack.

• Publish blog posts. You can share an update from your event or a story. You can add blog posts directly from the app.

• React to comments. Keep up with comments and questions.

• Monitor and maintain site health. You can update plugins and view site statistics to instantly see if your website is down.

• Backups can be restored. What happens if your store goes down while you are not there? Jetpack backup allows you to quickly restore your website from wherever you are.

• Edit pages. Edit pages.

• Register new users. Set up an account from your phone for vendors, employees, or other team members who need access to the site while you are away.

You can be more productive by completing all these important tasks on your smartphone or tablet.

5. Manage customer relations

Customer relationships go beyond just responding to customer comments and fulfilling orders promptly. It is important to communicate with your audience via a variety of channels.

Twitter is a popular way for people to contact brands to share their problems, ideas, and feedback. If you are active on Twitter, install the app to keep track of mentions and respond quickly and effectively. This is true for Facebook and Instagram. Keep customers happy by responding to comments and messages.

Chat is a great way to answer questions and resolve any issues that might arise. Extensions such as LiveChat also include an app that allows you to respond from your smartphone, regardless of where you may be.

6. At events, set up a tablet

Consider setting up a tablet for people to use if you sell at events or have a booth at a physical market.

• Let people purchase custom orders. You can talk to interested shoppers about customization services. Next, let them use your tablet to place an order on your WooCommerce store. This will increase their chances of following through, rather than them leaving the store and forgetting to place an order when they return home.

• Ask for tips. Let’s suppose you are an artist who sells artwork online or at events. You can also exhibit your talents at a festival by painting live. You can create a page in your WooCommerce store and leave it open on your tablet for people to tip you.

• Collect reviews. To collect customer reviews, create a form on the site. Ask buyers to review your products at events. This feedback can be used in marketing materials.

• Collect email addresses. You can add a subscription form for your online store to connect to your email marketing tools, such as MailPoet and AutomateWoo. Even if the person doesn’t buy right away, they can be contacted with tips and coupons.

7. Manage ads

The Google Ads app is a great tool for online advertising campaigns. You can connect from anywhere to your account – you can check on your campaigns and edit keywords and budgets. You can also pause campaigns and create new ads.

This allows you to stay in control of your advertising budget so you can reach as many people as possible.

You can manage your store from anywhere.

You can manage almost every aspect of your online shop, from orders and comments to payments and inventory, even if you aren’t at your factory, workshop, or office. It is important that you understand all aspects of running an online store, and then integrate the tools necessary to accomplish those tasks using your smartphone or tablet.